LITERARY NOTES.

Otago Witness, Issue 2660, 8 March 1905, Page 80

LITERARY NOTES.

Mr A. Henry Savage Lardor's new book~ "Tibet and Nepal," will be published shortly, as one of Messrs A. C. Black's Colour Eooks. It deals entirely with a second journey taken by the author in these regions, and his narrative is enlivened by most graphic descriptions of the magnificent scenery of the Himalayas, his life and adventures among their glaciers and snT>wpasses, and his enco inters with the natives. — "From the Wo rat of Poets to the Best of Wives" is Sir Wilfrid Lawson's dedication of his verses in "Cartoons in Rhyme and Line.'' Sir Wilfrid has done the rhymes, and Mr F. Carruthers Gould the line part. Poet and artist aro most happily mated, and the result is a volume of political satire andi good spirits that must be welcome to a big public. E^en where time has taken away the point of a rhyme, as in the lines on Mr Chamberlain. "The Representative of the Duke," the fun remains. But Sir Wilfrid goes too far when he sings of Derby Day : The rising morn with joy we greet, Our hearts within iis burn; Hail, happy day! when blackguards nieet And Parliaments adjourn. Mr Gould's drawings are delightful, from his British Lion exclaiming, "A little more fighting will make it all square," to the Bishop of Chester inviting a dreary old toper into his model publichouse, kept in order by "surpliced chuokers-out."— T.P.'s Weekly.

— The Vienna correspondent of the London Daily Telegi'aph reports the death on January 11 of Miss Emily Gerard (Madame de Laszowski), in her fifty-sixth year. The deceased authoress was of Scotch descent, her fathei being the late Archibald Gerard, of Rocksale'*. At the age of 15 she was sent to a convent in the Austrian Tyrol to learn foreign languages, and she made hw home in Austria after marrying Lieu-

tenant-general Miecislas de Laszowski. H^r first novel, "Beata. ' was published in 1830, and she subsequently wrote in collaboration with her sister, Miss Doiothca (Gerard. •'B«tr ? ar My Neighbour," "The Waters of Hercules." and "The Sensitive Plant. Lat^r works, which came from her own Den ' W ere "The Land Beyond the Yovct, •■A.' Secret Minion." "The Kxternmiat'oa of love" and "The Hcion's Tower." in addition' to her novels, Miss Emily Gerard. wrote many critical essays, and was an authority on Geiman literature, on which, wbiect she contributed numerous articles to EnS journals and magazines. Her last novel entitled "Honour's Glassy Bubble, will be published next month. . L^ te ''The^S Work^ of {£ future will become more and = f ture. and' I would nob be ™d«rtood to say that in any degree it excludes what is called the romantic novel oi the novel of adventure, or that it claims for fiction * conscious metaphysical or religious intention. I think the people writing novels m the time to c-ome will be the best minds, the richest natures, the strongest souls. I think it will be realised that the capacity of the noval fo. any work whatsoever wl-eth^r of -simple entertainment or ot deep teaching, is entirely without limit ; that there is no vehicle- so capable of reach-, mo- a wide area, no medium so adaptable to°the need* of man in all his stages of intellectual development; in a word, that there is no pulpit with a Founclmg-bcm-d that will send the human voice so far. — The handsome "Library Edition ' of the works of John Ruskin, published by G-eorge Allen, and edited by Messrs E. T. Cook and Alexander Wedderburn, is nowadvanced to the fifteenth volume. Thi* comprises "The Elements of Drawing. "The Elements of Perspective," "The Laws of Fesole," three works published resnectively in 1557, 1859, and 1877-8. With Ruskin the teaching of drawing was a work^ of almost passionate conviction. "The Elements of Drawing" is intimately connected with his interest in the Working Men's College in Great Ormond street, London, where his classes scon attained a kind of celebrity. "To the student of Ruskin s style," Mr Cook writes. " 'The Elements of Drawing' is of special interest." It proved a great success. The companion treatis-e on "Perspective" was by no means so successful. "The Laws of Fesole" is one (says the Westminster Gazette) of the most characteristic of Ruskin's minor writings— if, indeed, that which has so much of his charnuand personality can be called minor. At last (says Mr Mastermann, in the Daily News) the autumn season is over, and most reviewers for i moment can pause to breathe. Little but the bulky yearbook and works of reference is now h'kely to appear for some -weeks. Mr William Watson's collected] poems is the lest of the important books of this year. It ias been a season in many respects of considerable interest, strong in biography, weak in. fiction. There has been no great novel of the season. The two outstanding books have been the lives of Creighton and BurneJones. Of the latest books, Henry Siclsrwick's "Miscellaneous Essays and Addresses'* contains many interesting papers on literature economics, and religion, varying from. "Ecce Hono" and the poetry of Matthew Arnold and Clough to "Economic Socialism," or a discussion ot "idle fellowship. In theology there is Harnack's new book, a valume of sermons by Di Rashdall, and "Notes on Popular Rationalism," by Canon, Hensley Henson ; in literature, Mr Chanes Whibley's "Literary Portraits," considering in his own individual style such subjects as Rabelais, Casanova, and the author of the "Anatomy of Melancholy." M'ss Taylor, in "Revolutionary Types," deals with leaders of revolt— Pym, Washington, Mitchel, and tho "Roman Tragedy of '48." with a characteristic introduction by Mr Cunningham-Graham. "Among the types," says Mr Graham genially, "none of the revolutionaries, with the exception of Toussaint l'Ouverture, are social rebels. All the Test are Brixton pure and simple.*' "Still, taking them for all in all," he concludes, "undoubtedly they were worthy a whole wilderness of Liberal politicians."

— Under the heading "Personal Sacrifices to the State" Joseph Hatton writes in "Cigarette Papers":— Of a different pattern altogether from Lord Rosebery's "Napoleon" is Mr John Morley's "Oliver Cromwell." They b( th set one wondering that men who evidently take such great pleasure in authorship should be content to give up so much time and study and submit to so much calumny in order to serve the State. When we are criticising this publio mm and the other, who fight the battles of the political creeds in Parliament and contend with the nation's enemies abroad, often enduring sleepless nights and always laborious days to their publio labours, it would be only fair if we thought 1 a little of these sacrifices. It would help us to be me© tolerant of what we consider to ba their shortcomings. Mr John Morley loves literature better than active politics. Lord Rosebery has enjoyed writing "Napoleon, the Last Phase," far more than criticising Mr Chamberlain. Lord Salisbury was happier in his laboratory than in tho Eou-e of Lords, where pleasure and inclination were sacrificed to duty. Think what a plea-anfc life Mr Balfour could lead, equipped a« he is for the elevating exercises of art and music, and with his" enjoyment of field sports, were he selfish enough to lay a=ide the intellectual weapons with wh'ch Providence has armed him for the benefit of his country. It is difficult for men of strong political party leanings to write history with impartial pens. Mr Morley. however, succeeds in his admirable story of "Oliver Cromwell," and once in a. vi aj- becomes almost enthusiastic in hi*! descriptions -(often too brief) of Cromwcll'3 victories in the field.

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—In Heligoland the Sabbath begins on Saturday evening at 6 o'clock, and extends until the same hour on the next day. In forraei times ro ves«el was allowed lo leave port between these hours.